Shoe



J. J. SAITTA April 14, 1953 sHoE Filed Aug.. 24; 1951 NMa/velarl :Po/vs: Russen Patented Apr. 14, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHOE Joseph John Saitta, Oxnard, Calif.

Application August 24, 1951, Serial No. 243,431

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to shoes and more particularly to athletic shoes such as football shoes or the like and is characterized principally by having means built into the shoe for the protection of the players ankles against twisting or spraining.

Particularly in such sports as football, it is current practice to tape the instep and ankle of the player With wide bands of adhesive tape in order to minimize the chance of twisting and spraining ankles during play or practice. This results in a very substantial expenditure for adhesive tape, a large amount of time is spent in the taping and untaping of the ankles of the players, and a certain amount of discomfort.

It is, therefore, one object of this invention to provide a shoe of the type described Which is provided With means for insuring the wearer against twisting or spraining of the ankle.

It is a further object of this inventionto provide a shoe of the type described which enables the player to dispense with the customary adhesive taping of the ankles.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a shoe of the type described which substantially insures the wearer against any lateral twisting or bending of the ankle While at the same time leaving the foot free for flexing of the ankle in an up or down movement.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the annexed specification in Which:

Figure 1 is a perspective elevation of a shoe embodying the present invention; and

Figure 2 is a fragmentary section taken along the line 2 2 of Figure 1.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, there is indicated a shoe indicated generally by the numeral I and is here shown as comprising a conventional football shoe. In addition to the customary elements in such a shoe, a shoe of this invention includes a plurality of stiffeners I I which are shown here in the form of at steel ribs secured between the upper I2 and the lining I3 of the shoe by stitching indicated generally at I4, thus confining the rib I I in spaced pockets Ma.

If desired, an additional lining of sponge rubber, indicated at I5, may be provided within the shoe, and an inner-lining I6 preferably of nylon cloth may be laid over the sponge rubber lining, as clearly indicated in Figure 2. However, the sponge rubber and nylon cloth linings may, if desired, be omitted.

In the portion of the shoe covering the ankle, the ribs II and consequently the pockets IIIEL are placed in spaced parallel relation, running substantially vertically. This portion of the ribs is indicated at A in Figure 1. Towards the middle or metatarsal region of the foot, a second portion of ribs, also parallel to each other in spaced relation, is indicated at B. These ribs are at a small or acute angle to the direction of the ribs in the portion A, and a V-shaped space I'I is left in the upper containing none of the ribs I I for the purpose of permitting forward and rearward flexing of the foot.

1f desired, a strap I8 may be secured to the upper at the very upper edge thereof for additionally binding the shoe to the foot of the wearer and insuring rm contact of the shoe above the ankle. This strap I8 may be secured to the far side of the shoe as shown in Figure 1 by a conventional buckle (not shown) With the shoe as constructed, as above-described, when securely laced and attached to the foot of the wearer, it has been found that the ribs II positively prevent any lateral flexing or twisting of the shoe or foot, While, by reason of the V-shaped portion I'I, substantially complete freedom of forward and rearward flexing of the shoe and foot is permitted. Thus it is unnecessary to add any other precaution against sprain- 1ilg or twisting the foot such as by taping or the While there has been described what is at present considered a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes and modiflcations can be made therein without departing from the essence of the invention and it is intended to cover herein all such changes and modications as come within the true spirit and scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

A shoe having an upper and a lining extending over the ankle portion of the foot; a rst plurality of spaced substantially inflexible ribs secured in pockets between said upper and said lining and extending substantially vertically over the ankle region of the shoe; a second plurality of spaced substantially inflexible ribs secured in pockets between said upper and said lining and extending at an acute angle to said first plurality filrwardly towards the metatarsal region of said s oe.

JOSEPH JOHN SAITTA.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 325,280 Smadbeck et al Sept. 1, 1885 522,371 Horn et al July 3, 1894 721,574 Lattemann Feb. 24, 1903 1,095,213 Johnson May 5, 1914 1,986,580 Johnson Jan. l, 1935 2,211,822 Jennings Aug. 20, 1940 2,287,026 Craig et al June 23, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 12,572 Great Britain Feb. 23, 1889 of 1888 15,836 Great Britain Oct. 5, 1888 of 1887 

